DALLAS — Veteran high school football coach Mark Barnes has seen a lot of crazy plays and crazy finishes in his years in the sport.

But the 200th victory of his 24-year head coaching career will be one that he’ll remember for a long time.

Trailing a ball-control North Gaston for much of Friday’s game at Trudnak Stadium, Crest’s Jalin Moore scored the game-winning touchdown on a busted play, then intercepted a pass at the Chargers 23 to preserve a wild 43-36 Big South 3A Conference victory.

“I’ve been fortunate to have had a lot of good coaches, good players and good schools,” said Barnes, who is now 200-90 as a head coach at Scotland County, Reidsville, Brevard and for the last three seasons at Crest. “My daddy (Paul Barnes at Allen Jay) was a coach and my brother (Darryl Barnes at Richmond County) was a coach, so I’m blessed to have a chance to do something like this.

“And this is the kind of game that has to rank right up there. Give North Gaston credit for how hard and how well they played. But our guys showed a lot of character and just found a way to win.”

Moore, a junior running back/defensive back, was a big reason the Chargers improved to 7-1, 3-0. Not only did he rush for 209 yards in 15 carries, but he scored five touchdowns and had a two-point conversion for 32 points and he made five solo or first-hit tackles in addition to the game-clinching interception.

“It feels really good, but I think we’re all really exhausted,” said Moore, who scored on runs of 13, 41, 29, 45 and the game-winning 3-yarder that was arguably his most impressive run of the night.

With Crest trailing 36-35 with 2:52 left to play, Barnes called for a toss sweep to the left. But when quarterback P.J. Brooks’ pitch went to Moore, Moore fumbled the ball before chasing it down near the 15. Instead of falling on the football for the large loss, Moore scooped up the ball, eluded several defenders and reversed field for the 3-yard TD run.

“I give all the credit to my linemen,” said Moore, who picked up many of his rushing yards and touchdowns with Crest running a power, single-wing offensive formation. “I just saw the green they opened up and I ran to it.”

Crest trailed three times by two scores — 14-0, 22-8 and 29-15 — before making its comeback.

North Gastonused the same recipe it used in last week’s 35-28 heartbreaking loss at Forestview. The Wildcats’ rushing attack played “keep away.”

Last week, North Gaston ran 79 offensive snaps to 39 for Forestview. This week, the Wildcats ran 81 snaps to 38.

North Gastonalso rolled up 471 yards total offense to Crest’s 347.

Page 2 of 2 - Quarterback Nick Haskin and fullback Corey Staley led the way. Haskin had 202 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 31 carries and completed five of 12 throws for 55 yards. Staley had 194 yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries.

“I didn’t know what to tell them,” said North Gaston coach Mike Patton of his post-game talk with his team that fell to 1-7, 0-4. “To play a Crest team to the wire says a lot, especially for the senior class that’s had a lot of adversity in their time here.

“They’ve been frustrated like we all have, but they keep working. It’s a shame we couldn’t win, but I can’t be happier than I am with our effort.”